


Soap Opera

by benfic



Category: We Happy Few (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, also this is, anyway this can be platonic romantic whatever you like ! just figured it was Time, i'm really doing this? i'm really doing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 00:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16052018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benfic/pseuds/benfic
Summary: “Earth,” Nick says, waving an arm majestically towards the ceiling, “...is a hole in space.”“Um,” Arthur says. “That’s fascinating.”Arthur manages to get that power cell away from Nick, which doesn't necessarily mean he's going to be able to talk sense into him.





	Soap Opera

“Okay,” Arthur says. “Let’s, um, just-- get that--” 

 

And he leans over the rim of the tub and wrestles Nick, grabbing at the power cell. Nick makes some temporary grunting sort of noises, flapping at Arthur uselessly, but in the end he’s left safely unelectrocuted as Arthur rips the power cell out of his hands.

 

“Okay,” Arthur says again. “Okay. Well, that’s done.”

 

Nick sways slightly. Arthur puts the power cell in his briefcase, just on the off chance that he might need it later. He has no idea what to do with Nick in the moment. Why did he come in here, again?

 

“You don’t look so good yourself,” Nick says, holding onto the edge of the shower curtain. From experience, Arthur knows that is not going to last very long, so he pries Nick’s hands off the thing and sort of tries to get them back to Nick’s person.

 

“I’m fine, thank you,” Arthur says. “I’ll just, ah, give you some privacy--”

 

“Y’should join me!” Nick says, and he shoves Arthur bodily into the tub. Arthur barely manages to keep from slipping, but as it is, he’s not enjoying this. Also, his feet are wet.

 

“Are you a fan?” Nick asks, soaping himself up over the outfit. It makes for quite a look.

 

“Not... precisely,” Arthur says. He’s heard the music-- who hasn’t?-- but mostly he has seen Nick in posters on other people’s walls, and he’s more a fan of what he sees than what he hears. “I mean--”

 

“Who is, who is,” Nick says, scrubbing parts that Arthur kind of doesn’t want to see, but technically they’re covered by clothes so that shouldn’t be a problem. Nick offers the soap to Arthur, but Arthur, not excited to get naked quite this second (or, for that matter, soap his clothes) searches for something else to occupy his hands with and grabs a rubber ducky. It gives a reassuring  _ squonk  _ as he holds it.

 

“I, um,” he says. “I should be going. But-- but they’re waiting for you, like I said, at the church--”

 

“Earth,” Nick says, waving an arm majestically towards the ceiling, “...is a hole in space.”

 

“Um,” Arthur says. He really doesn’t want to lose his hold on this conversation. “That’s fascinating.”

 

“The Earth is an inside-out planet,” Nick explains. He pauses. “Outside-in planet.”

 

“I-- I think you were right the first time. To be honest, I really ought to be going--”

 

“It’s one of the black holes in space,” Nick presses, poking Arthur’s proper suit with one soapy finger. “Its gravitational pull is all inward--”

 

“This is fascinating,” Arthur says, pulling Nick’s hand away and sort of patting it gently, “but I have-- I really do have somewhere else to be--”

 

“I understand,” Nick says, patting Arthur somewhere in the vicinity of his face. “I completely understand.”

 

“Um, do you?” Arthur asks, watching him hunt for the soap. “I mean, yes.”

 

“If you find somewhere else for me to be,” Nick says, finding the soap and scrubbing himself thoroughly under one armpit, “tell me, won’t you?”

 

“I-- I will,” Arthur says. “Yes, definitely.”

 

And he steps out of the shower, out of the bathroom, and back into the syringe-strewn lobby of the apartment. He sighs, giving a quick glance around the room, and rubs his wet arm nervously.

 

“Well,” he says, mostly to himself. Nick’s singing warbles out of the shower, not sounding quite as good as it does on vinyl.  _ “He’s  _ certainly in no shape to call Simon Says.”

 

Fortunately, Arthur is having an idea.

**Author's Note:**

> I really... named this that... didn't I...
> 
> Anyway the poem is real and it's 'earth is a hole in space' by Sun Ra from the collection [This Planet is Doomed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11964993-this-planet-is-doomed). I couldn't find the full text of the poem online, but I promise you that the second I was shown a blurry photocopy by a poetry teacher I knew I had to do something with it and, uh, I guess this is what that is. Buy Sun Ra's book and Compulsion's game. What am I still doing here.
> 
> Look out for more fic! It's coming.


End file.
